The Tradition of Urdu Translation: From Colonial Appropriation and Assimilation to Postcolonial Resistance. (1800 – 2026)

Abstract

This study traces the 226-year evolution of Urdu translation as a site of linguistic practice and cultural–political contestation. Using postcolonial and polysystem theory, it examines how translation shaped Urdu prose, ideology, and identity across key historical phases. Beginning with Fort William College (1800), where colonial patronage institutionalized Urdu prose while subordinating translators, the study moves to Sir Syed’s Aligarh Movement, which reoriented translation toward scientific modernity. The Progressive Writers’ Movement politicized translation through Soviet influences, whereas Halqa Arbab-e-Zauq advanced a modernist, aesthetic paradigm that redefined the translator as a co-creator.

After 1947, state patronage in Pakistan and India bureaucratized translation, reducing it to clerical labor. The study also highlights enduring issues, including the “translator’s treason” debate, economic marginalization, and lack of formal training. It evaluates Urdu’s global representation through selective translations of canonical and women writers, exposing Orientalist framing. In the contemporary phase (2000–2026), the study argues that AI-driven machine translation introduces a new form of data colonialism.

The research concludes that the Urdu translator has historically oscillated between clerk, ideologue, and artist, yet remains structurally constrained. It advocates a shift from literal fidelity to cultural agency, emphasizing creative re-production over mechanical transfer. The study contributes to Translation Studies by demonstrating how power, resistance, and technology shape a postcolonial literary system.